1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording apparatus for writing data on a recording medium such as an optical recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium or a magnetic recording medium, and a method for recording information on the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recording information on a recordable/reproducible recording medium such as an optical recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium or a magnetic recording medium, a main data region and a management data region generally are set in a recording region. In the main data region, main data is recorded, such as computer data and a video signal that are main recording subjects. In the management data region, management data is recorded, which is composed of management information such as a file allocation table (FAT) related to recording in the main data region. An information recording apparatus using such a recording medium is configured so as to perform update recording in the management data region when adding main data to the main data region.
In the case where there is update information with respect to the recorded contents, regarding data to be recorded in a predetermined recording region, update recording is performed in the predetermined recording region, regarding an update portion. At this time, when recording fails due to the disconnection of a power source before completion of update recording, data in the predetermined recording region remains in an incorrect state, which causes problems during reproduction of information.
JP 06(1994)-19808 A describes a method for solving a problem similar to the above in an information processing apparatus. According to this method, flags for data file saving and saving management are placed in a non-volatile memory, so that a data file can be restored from a memory even when recording is not terminated normally.
However, the apparatus disclosed in JP 06(1994)-19808 A has the following problems. That is, every time data is rewritten in a recording medium, data also should be rewritten in a non-volatile memory for data backup. Accordingly, the non-volatile memory is degraded every time data is rewritten, which causes a problem in reliability of the non-volatile memory. The use of a volatile memory for overcoming this problem is considered; however, another power source such as a battery is required.
Furthermore, in the case where a recording medium is exchanged, backup data on a memory is not matched with the recording on a removed recording medium due to the subsequent use history. Furthermore, irrespective of a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, to provide a memory for protection increases the cost of a recording apparatus.